In the wake of Joe Hockey's comments about housing affordability in Sydney there are various memes circulating which suggest he, and the Coalition government in general, are out of touch with ordinary Australians. I've been wondering if this is what the comments really show. Now, if the question was "did Joe say something foolish and insensitive" then the answer would almost certainly be "yes". No surprise here. Joe often says foolish and insensitive things. But that's not the question. The question is, is he out of touch? The context was a press conference about an ATO investigation into possible breaches of foreign investment restrictions on real estate. Apart from the actual subject at hand, Hockey made two key statements about Sydney housing. The first: "The starting point for a first home buyer is to get a good job that pays good money," And the second: "If housing were unaffordable in Sydney, no-one would be buy
'Contemplating the teeming life of the shore, we have an uneasy sense of the communication of some universal truth that lies just beyond our grasp.' - Rachel Carson